Gophers football: Can Jerry Kill's Year 2 magic make a bowl appear?

"This is a big year for us," said Gophers coach Jerry Kill said. "It's Year 2. We expect to make some progress. ... How much progress you make is how far these young kids will go." (Pioneer Press file photo: John Doman)

Less than a month after finishing 3-9 last season, first-year coach Jerry Kill gathered the Gophers for a team meeting.

He played a video he had just received called "Building the House," a gift from former quarterback Joel Sambursky, about Southern Illinois' turnaround from Year 1 to Year 2 under Kill. The improvement was just three wins from a 1-10 finish in 2001, but it set the stage for the Salukis to win 10 games and the conference title in Year 3.

"It just gave us a little bit of confidence," said Gophers linebacker Mike Rallis, who talked with Sambursky. "There's always a transition period when a coaching staff comes in, but if we keep working at it, and doing what we have to do, there's some light at the end of the tunnel.

Minnesota Gophers quarterback MarQueis Gray during drills on the second day of open practice for the Minnesota Gophers football team on August 5, 2012, at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. (Pioneer Press: Sherri LaRose-Chiglo)

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The Gophers enter Year 2 under Kill in better position than Southern Illinois was. When they open at UNLV on Thursday, Aug. 30, they won't just be hoping for one or two defining wins and a slightly better record.

They are pursuing a bowl game.

A relatively easy nonconference schedule could mean three to four wins before the Big Ten. Put that together with more speed and depth, plus the maturation of second-year starting quarterback MarQueis Gray, and the Gophers could be looking at their first bowl since 2009.

"This is a big year for us," Kill said. "It's Year 2. We expect to make some progress. That was our attitude going into Southern Illinois. How much progress you make is how far these young kids will go.

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Young or inexperienced or both, actually. The Gophers are relying on junior college transfers and freshmen to be more athletic and deeper in the secondary, at wide receiver and running back.

Minnesota has 36 newcomers, many of whom could play Thursday. It might start six underclassmen (five sophomores and one freshman) on offense and four on defense (three sophomores and one freshman). That's quite a contrast to last season's opener, when Kill started five underclassmen total.

But new Athletics Director Norwood Teague, like his predecessor Joel Maturi, won't state any win-loss expectations. Instead, Teague is talking about helping Kill by expanding his resources, getting an indoor practice facility renovated and possibly moving the football offices and weight room to TCF Bank Stadium.

"He's won everywhere he's been," Teague said. "So what can we do from an administrative side, from a department side, to help him? That's my greatest concern. That's what keeps me up at night more than anything else. It would be phenomenal (to make a bowl game). But we'll take all we can get this year, as they say."

THE CULTURE

The Gophers program Kill inherited reminded him of Southern Illinois' when he took over a decade ago, Kill has said numerous times.

Both teams were a mess, but in different ways.

SIU had only two winning seasons since it won the 1983 Division I-AA national title, but the Salukis desperately needed a new stadium. It wasn't built until after he left, but it came because of support generated from his success.

SIU actually slipped from three wins the year before Kill to one his first season. In Year 2, though, hope emerged after two wins against ranked teams.

The SIU documentary highlighted the upset over rival Western Illinois in 2002 as the turning point because it broke an 18-game losing streak in the series. The Salukis beat another ranked opponent the following game. And though they lost their last five games that year, they would go on to win 50 games in the next five seasons, with a postseason berth each year.

The Gophers already had a new stadium when Kill arrived. There was a Rose Bowl drought stretching back to 1962, but Minnesota had reached nine bowl games in 11 seasons from 1999 to 2009 before winning three games the year before Kill arrived.

But Kill was shocked by what he saw when he first took over the program. Players were out of shape and not taking academics seriously.

Kill vowed to "change the culture" at Minnesota.

And he did, even if it didn't change the record on the field.

Kill entered his first spring practice frustrated that several players were at risk of being academically ineligible. After this past spring semester, the Gophers registered a 3.0 team grade-point average for the second straight semester -- something never accomplished under predecessor Tim Brewster.

He worked the team at an intense pace from his first practice as Gophers coach and stressed a commitment to the weight room. A better-conditioned Minnesota team has an offensive line alone that gained an average of 15 to 20 pounds of muscle per returning player this past offseason, Kill said. After Teague succeeded Joel Maturi in June, Kill was able to add three more full-time strength coaches to get to five total. That allowed head strength coach Eric Klein to get even faster results.

"When he can see Eric Klein's impact on the club, that really juices him," Kill's friend and Salukis radio voice Mike Reis said about Kill. "He's told me that's a huge part of his success. I think on the academic side, he feels very comfortable with where they are. And with the university's commitment to the program, he feels energized."

Last season was horrifying at times. Kill suffered seizures and collapsed on the sideline late in a Game 2 loss to New Mexico State. After beating Miami of Ohio in Week 3, the Gophers suffered an embarrassing 37-24 loss to North Dakota State. The following week in the Big Ten opener, the Gophers were throttled 58-0 at Michigan, the worst conference loss in program history. It began a run of three Big Ten routs during which the Gophers were outscored 144-31.

The program appeared to be a disaster area.

Then came hope. The Gophers upset Iowa for the second straight year, this time 22-21 in a last-second win. And though they lost their next two games, they ended the season with a 27-7 win against an Illinois team that suffered its sixth straight loss.

Which left the 2011 Gophers 3-9, same as the 2010 Gophers.

But Year 2 should be different.

"If Year 2 at Minnesota is going to mirror Year 2 here," Reis said, "there will be a game five years from now that they will look back and say that made the difference, even though the record wasn't very good."

THE SCHEDULE

Which game could provide that defining victory in Year 2?

At Wisconsin on Oct. 20?

Against Michigan on Nov. 3?

At Nebraska on Nov. 17?

Against Michigan State in the regular-season finale Nov. 24?

Can the Gophers really beat one of those top-20 teams?

"It's all about momentum," said Darrell Thompson, the team's radio analyst and the school's all-time rushing leader. "If they get off to a good start, then they'll be able to withstand some of those head and body blows you could get. You just can't have any big slides."

The Gophers might not even need that sort of marquee win to make a bowl game. In fact, they could surpass last season's win total before the Big Ten season starts.

They have a soft nonconference schedule, even softer than last year. Unlike USC, Syracuse is a bottom-level BCS team. New Hampshire is a perennial Football Championship Subdivision playoff team, but it shouldn't be as formidable as 2011 FCS champion North Dakota State. UNLV and Western Michigan don't appear any better than last season's mid-major opponents, New Mexico State and Miami (Ohio).

The Gophers' last 4-0 start was in 2008.

Which, coincidentally, was Year 2 under Brewster.

THE TALENT

When Kill looks at Minnesota's roster this season, he sees 46 players he recruited to the program. He wasn't able to land a top-20 recruiting class, like Brewster did going into his second year. But Kill wasn't focusing on flash and taking chances on high-risk, high-end prospects. He went after recruits who fit his style, landing a number of top local players and a handful of "under-the-radar guys" from the South, as he called them.

Freshmen receivers Jamel Harbison from North Carolina and Andre McDonald from Hopkins High School need to contribute quickly to give Gray more passing options. The Gophers don't want to wear Gray out in the running game, either, so they will need to rely on junior college transfer James Gillum from Louisiana and freshman K.J. Maye from Alabama.

Redshirt freshmen Josh Campion and Foster Bush have to make up for the loss of sophomore tackle Jimmy Gjere, who started five games last season before suffering a concussion that ended his season and, eventually, his football career.

Gjere was the best local recruit Brewster signed to Minnesota. Gray was the former coach's prized recruit, period. And now Gray has one last season to live up to the high expectations following him since he became a Gopher.

The 6-foot-4, 250-pound Indianapolis native is elusive enough to have a 1,000-yard rushing season (34 yards short last year). He still thinks about missing out on that mark. But he thinks about winning his first bowl game even more.

"I really am going to have to have a big year," Gray said. "I know with the team we have and the confidence we have that it's pretty possible."

The defense could have a dominant presence, as well, if 6-6, 300-pound junior Ra'Shede Hageman, another Brewster holdover, can show why coaches call him one of the most gifted athletes of his size in the Big Ten.

Kill also mentioned changes in the secondary as potentially making a difference. Junior Brock Vereen and sophomore Derrick Wells switched from cornerback to safety. Junior-college cornerbacks Martez Shabazz, Briean Boddy and Jeremy Baltazar have added speed.

"Athletically and skillwise, I don't think there's any question that we're better than we were a year ago," Kill said. "Now how are they going to handle it? Are they going to be nervous and jump offsides, or are they going to be confident and go play?"

THE RESULT

Since last year, Kill has brought in new talent, given the team new uniforms and helmets, and provided new inspiration with tales of Year 2 at Southern Illinois.

So what will all of that mean for the Gophers this year?

Know this: At every coaching stop, Jerry Kill has managed a better record in his second year than he had in his first.

"Everything about Minnesota is getting better and evolving," receiver Marcus Jones said. "So it's just time for the program and the team to start winning games."